Every Friday in August, ZSL London Zoo will be opening its doors after hours. Zoo Lates - What's on - ZSL London Zoo - ZSL I bought three guest (£14.20 online in advance thus obtained a 20% discount off the £16 admission price) to last Friday’s first Zoo Lates for the season and here is my review and comments. Please note on the day, I had a sore throat and the beginnings of a summer cold so I was a little tired and as a result this review may sound overly critical and grumpy but I hope it is an honest review. I had heard that it took their visitors up to 1 hour to gain admission to the single late night opening last year. On the day, whilst googling the event I came across Up to 90% discount on restaurants, spas, wellness, fitness - groupon.co.uk who was able to sell 3,376 tickets at 50% off or £8 each. I know ZSL was selling direct to Groups of 10 plus people with a discount of 40% but clearly Up to 90% discount on restaurants, spas, wellness, fitness - groupon.co.uk had the better deal. They had set up a table outside the Main Entrance on the right where all their purchasers went to register or whatever. If one had paid the standard daytime full price before last admission time of 5pm on the day. There would be no one to stop them from staying the evening/night and I believe this was the case. The Guide Timetable for the night: 7pm Giraffe Feed and Talk 7.30pm Penguins Feed 7.45pm Giants and Dragons Talk 8pm Big Cats Talk 8.15pm Rainforest Talk The Birds in the Blackburn Pavillion were singing a lot more then usual. There were enormous queues for the BBQ and especially especially for alcohol. I didn’t see anyone walking around eating (I guess they stayed on the picnic lawn) but plenty were walking around with their drinks. There were large numbers of young women groups walking around, a number of lovebird couples. The strangest thing was that I didn’t hear any screaming/crying/shouting children and their screaming/shouting parents. I maybe came across a half dozen family with children. It was nice seeing the single Red Panda grooming itself in the evening. The meerkats were asleep. So, for once the Red Panda had the limelight in this corner! Many of the animals were asleep early. This was emphasized by my visit to Clore Rainforest at 7.30pm. We went to the Night Zone and they were slowly increasing the lighting levels inside thus many of the creatures here were going to sleep or asleep. I have never seen so many people down in the Night Zone. In BIO, all the creatures were going to sleep. However, the Red Titi monkeys couldn’t do so as the lamp they normally sleep on top of was full on!!! The only creature moving about was the Southern Tamandua. When it came to 9pm (when all buildings were closed which they did not state on the “Evening Planner”), a number of people decided to leave and all Main Entrance Staff had departed and had closed the shutters. Signs were directing people to only one exit and that was the large turnstile next to the main entrance. I did not see any staff around. Unlike last year, where there was a massive wait and queue to enter. This year resulted in one MASSIVE queue and wait time to get out of the zoo. I estimated the wait time to be at least 15-20 minutes. (I always think of Hillsborough Disaster when I see large crowds). I did not see any visible staff present in this area. If there were, I couldn’t see them for the mass of people. People were not pleased having to queue (and the queues had no order to them) to get out especially after many had spent a long time in queues to obtain food and drink. The simple solution would have been to keep the Main Entrance staff on until the event had finished and to have kept the shutters open!!! Fortunately, I used one of the alternative exits. I feel so sorry for the ladies for after drinking their bottles alcohol and/or pimps at around 9pm there was a queue at least 50 plus ladies for the 6 cubicles (my girly friend told me how many cubicles there are) at the Barclay Court Toilets. I would have a sign informing ladies what direction and how far to the next closest toilets near Bugs. I always wonder whether some ladies wet themselves whilst waiting such a long time?! The most interesting aspect of the night was the “Slight Disco” which required a refundable £5 deposit for a pair headset. I didn’t obtain one but it was really surreal and enjoyable seeing people dancing and singing to the same music on the picnic lawn and along the footpaths. I’ve just read on the “Evening Planner” that it says, “Between 9pm-10pm please leave quietly via our East Service gate (Barclay Court).” However, this did not help those people who tried to get out near the Main Entrance which all signs were pointing towards and I did not see any staff members directing people to this gate. Overall, my guest enjoyed the evening. One of whom had visited many times during daytime and had never seen the Red Panda or the Southern Tamandua. It was definitely, an evening for young girl gangs and boy gangs along with the chatting and banter that goes on between those groups. It was not definitely, not suited for families with children. I think it is best they attend during daytime as lighting (apart from Barclays Court) is not suited for finding lost/missing children and there are not many staff members on duty. I did not see any drunken behaviour but I left at 9.30pm and as one knows most trouble occurs during chucking out time. Although, I had the sense the crowd was very well behavioured and civilised with women easily outnumbering the guys!!! Maybe ZSL London Zoo should do a Singles Night Speed Dating during Valentines Day Week.
Thanks for that, that's really helpful as I may be on duty this coming Friday and can perhaps direct people to the east service gate exit, which isn't easy to spot if you're not a member of staff; and also tell the waiting ladies where alternative loos are!
